Rise of the Fallen: Ascensionis
Chapter 20

Back on Earth, in a heavily wooded forest, a rabbit pokes its head out of a bush and sniffs the air. It starts hopping as fast as it could when, suddenly, a deer bites it on the neck and blood gushes out everywhere like a balloon that has been popped. Frank Garrison uses his sniper rifle to witness the unnatural scene occurring several feet away from him. He pulls out his voice recorder and pushes the red button to record his replaceings. He says in a low tone, “October 18, 2014. It’s 6:05 in the morning and I just spotted a carnivorous deer eating a rabbit. It looks like the disease from a few days ago has spread somehow altered the eating habits of the wildlife.”

Frank releases the button and puts the recorder back in his pocket. He aims his rifle at the deer and whispers, “Sorry, buddy. You’re better off this way.”

A muffled gunshot is heard and the deer gets struck with the bullet right in the head. It dies instantly and collapses to the ground. As Frank kneels down next to the deer, he puts on a pair of surgical gloves and, cautiously, lifts the deer’s lips. After studying its fangs, he says, “Yup...almost looks like looking into the mouth of a tiger.”

Frank becomes startled by the sound of rustling grass and points his rifle at the tall tree nearby. He pulls the trigger and, as a result, the bullet causes pieces of bark to go flying in different directions. A girl can be heard screaming, “Wait! Don’t kill me!”

While still pointing his gun, Frank yells, “Let me see your hands and walk towards me right now!”

The girl raises her hands and walks out of the bushes. She looks like she’s about thirteen or fourteen years old. While still pointing his rifle at her, Frank kneels down and asks, “Open your mouth, girl.”

She does as he commands and opens her mouth wide to reveal healthy and normal teeth. He tells her, “Your gums and teeth look normal. You’re not infected.”

Frank lowers his gun and tells her, “You can lower your hands. What’s your name and what are you doing out here by yourself?”

The frightened girl replies with a shaky voice, “My name’s Holly and I’m here with my little brother. We’re both hungry and I just wanted to take that rabbit for us.”

He takes a quick glance at the dead carcasses and advises, “Call me Frank. Rabbit is usually very tasty, Holly, but I don’t recommend chowing down on that.”

Frank looks at her and says while having a fatherly concern, “I have some rations in my backpack. Take me to where he is and we can all have a bite to eat. What do you think, huh?”

Holly smiles and replies happily, “Yeah! Follow me, Frank!”

As Frank follows Holly while holding his rifle four inches away from his chest, he asks, “Where’s your parents, Holly?”

She shrugs her shoulders and replies sadly, “I don’t know. We ran out of food a few weeks ago and they went out to replace more. I haven’t seen them since.”

He thinks about all of the other families on Earth that are probably experiencing the same thing. Holly notices that Frank is missing a few fingers and asks, “What happened to your fingers?”

He lifts his hand and explains, “I was attacked, Holly.”

“By one of those bad people?”

Frank decides not to go into gruesome details and simply replies, “Yeah.”

They both arrive at a large man made tent and Holly says, while pointing at it, “This is it, Frank. My brother, Aaron, is feeling kinda bad.”

Not surprising considering the fact that they’ve been without food for such a long time. More than likely, the kids were too scared to go hunting on their own and just waited. Frank swats away a few flies and makes his way inside.

Frank’s head gets pushed back as he smells the putrid stench of rotten flesh. He sees a little boy, about five or six, sucking on what looks like a human femur. Before he even has time to react, Holly hits him on the back of the neck with a thick branch. This causes him to lose consciousness and fall to the ground.

A half hour later, Frank opens his eyes and replaces himself tightly bound to a chair. Holly is sitting down in front of him while holding a blood stained machete. He is still feeling the sting on the back of his neck as he asks her, “What really happened to your parents?”

Her lips begin to form a sinister grin giving Frank the indication that she has lost her mind. Holly replies in a casual manner, “Well...the truth is that I still have some food. Aaron can’t keep it inside and he just throws it up. Then he bit our dad’s ear off and ate it. He didn’t puke it, Frank.”

At this point, she stands up and puts her finger on the tip of the blade. Holly continues, “After watching Aaron starve, they asked me to kill them so that he can live. And that’s what I did.”

She starts laughing and tells him, “Now...I have to kill you. I’m sorry that I don’t have anything like anesthetic because this is gonna hurt...a lot.”

All of a sudden, someone entering the tent catches Holly by surprise and she asks, “Huh? Who are you?”

She feels a pain in her chest and her body explodes hurling flesh and brain matter at Frank. Aaron hisses at the person and his eyes glow a bright yellow. Seconds later, the boy’s body also explodes. Frank yells, “Jesus Christ!”

He sees an elderly man with a cane walk around him until he is facing him. The man asks, “It seems as if I have prevented a rather painful experience, yes?”

Frank spits on the floor to remove Holly’s brain matter from his lips and asks, “Who the hell are you and what kind of weapon was that?”

The old man replies, “I’m Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein. The weapon is actually my cane, Mr. Garrison. I could go into the details but it would really just confuse you.”

Frank thinks about his encounter with Barbara Echevarria and asks, “Wait...Frankenstein? Ludwig?”

Victor replies, “Is my son.”

“My grandson...Joshua?”

“He is with your daughter in the underground city beneath Denver’s airport. Any more questions, Mr. Garrison?”

Frank breathes a sigh of relief. He then asks, “Yeah. How did you replace me?”

Victor makes an adjustment on his cane while replying, “Information, my boy. Information.”

He points the cane at Frank and pushes a button which makes him shut his eyes and shout, “Whoa!”

Frank feels the ropes loosen and slip off of his body. He looks up at Victor afterwards with a frightened expression. Victor makes his way out of the tent and says, “Come with me. There is much to do.”

Frank exits the tent and catches up with Victor. While walking, Victor explains to him, “I know the location of others that are not infected. As you can see, I’m an old man so I will need your assistance.”

“Sure.”

Victor extends his cane close to Frank’s chest and they both come to a stop. He says, “Right here. Thank you, Mr. Garrison.”

As they wait, Victor looks at Frank’s hand and tells him, “I can do something about that.”

Frank grins and asks in response, “And take away my battle scars?”

Victor shakes his head in disbelief and mutters, “Soldiers are such a strange lot.”

A second later, a black circle appears in front of them. Frank stares at the bizarre object and says, “Let me guess. We’re going into that thing.”

As Victor proceeds to enter, he replies, “Yes.”

While watching him disappear into the empty space, Frank shakes his head and says to himself, “Well...here goes nothing.”

Frank jumps through and the circle closes behind him. He instantly appears inside of the research facility on Mars. Victor is standing next to him. Victor begins to walk and says, “This way, Mr. Garrison. I’ll take you to your quarters so that you may take a shower.”

Frank follows him and asks, “What is this place?”

“It’s a research facility located on Mars. Now, due to the fact that StarSun intentionally released a new strain of that virus, we must act quickly to save the few remaining humans.”

Frank becomes stunned and stops walking. He says to himself, “No...that can’t be...she wouldn’t.”

Victor also stops walking and lowers his head. He explains, “I am sorry to be the one to break the news to you, Mr. Garrison. I am familiar with your mission that resulted in the extermination of the Maori tribe. Your daughter may have orchestrated this worldwide disaster as a way to exact revenge.”

Frank is at a loss for words. To think that his own daughter is behind the most brutal plague in history makes him feel sick in the stomach. Victor approaches him and says, “What is important now is that we try our very best to save humanity and reclaim Earth.”

“She was so innocent and kind, Mr. Frankenstein. You should have seen her.”

“Unfortunately, Frank, she is no longer that little girl.”

After several minutes of silence pass, Victor says, “Let’s go, Frank. You can take a shower and we’ll have some tea afterwards.”

A steady stream of hot water from a shower head is hitting Frank on his head. He has finished taking a shower but decides to remain there with his eyes closed as he reminisces on the past. Frank finally makes his way out of the shower and the stream immediately stops. Just before grabbing a dry towel, he punches the wall in anger and shouts, “Fuck!”

Much later, Frank arrives at the cafeteria and replaces Victor sitting down at a table while reading a paperback novel. Frank sits down and says, “This is a sight. I thought you scientific types preferred digital formats.”

While taking a sip of his tea, Victor looks at him and replies, “The digital format does provide one the opportunity to keep the book from incurring physical damage due to the acidity of the air, yes. I simply replace holding the book physically in my hands to be a much more personal experience.”

Frank grins and takes a sip of his tea. He then tells Victor, “That’s good. I had a collection myself but they’re all gone now. I still have Moby Dick, though.”

Victor raises his cup in acknowledgement and says, “A timeless classic, my friend.”

Frank takes this moment to advise Victor, “If we’re going to do this, it needs to be soon.”

Victor places his cup on the table and replies, “Yes. I will provide you with state of the art weaponry as well as introduce you to Sasha very soon.”

Frank is somewhat curious and asks, “Sasha? Is she military?”

This amuses Victor. “You can say that.”

Minutes later, the heavily fortified door of the weapons research and development department opens and Frank is the first to step inside. He folds his arms and gazes at the vast array of handguns and rifles on display. Victor stands next to him and says, “Let’s get started with this rifle.”

He hands Frank a futuristic assault rifle which he points in order to get a feel for it. He says to Victor, “Nice. This is the TAR-21...but it looks a bit different.”

“In actuality, this is a pulse rifle based on that model. Instead of using NATO rounds, it uses extremely destructive directed-energy. The same technology found in my cane.”

Frank gives him a big smile and says in a gravelly voice, “Sweet.”

Victor returns the smile and next hands him a large handgun. Frank points it and pulls the trigger. Since it lacks ammunition, it just makes a clicking sound. He tells Victor, “Okay. This feels like the Desert Eagle Hand-Canon.”

“Correct. The ammunition is still .50 caliber bullets, but modified to expand upon impact thus producing a larger diameter wound.”

“Dumdums.”

Victor walks away for a moment. When he returns, he gives Frank something that looks like a mix of shotgun with a machine gun. Frank points it and says, “The Saiga-12 Semi-Automatic Shotgun.”

He lowers the weapon and asks, “Full-auto?”

“Of course.”

“Fuck, yeah.”

Victor says, after a chuckle, “It’s time that you meet Sasha now. I have a feeling you’ll love her the most.”

“Lead the way, Santa.”

A young blond woman wearing a blue camouflage uniform is seen making adjustments to a tank. She senses people behind her and quickly turns around to replace Victor and a man that she does not recognize right away. Victor says to her, “Hello, Sasha.”

“Hello, Mr. Frankenstein. How are you doing this morning?”

“Good, thank you. I’m sure you know Frank Garrison.”

Her eyes widen and she walks toward them completely embarrassed. She salutes Frank and says, “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t recognize you.”

Frank grins at her and says, “At ease, soldier. I’m retired so you can drop that crap.”

He walks past her toward the tank and asks, “This is a Ripsaw UGV, right?”

Sasha stands next to him and replies proudly, “I’m the MS4. The latest model.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

Victor answers the question by saying, “You heard correctly, Mr. Garrison.”

He then points his cane at Sasha and pushes a button. A sharp blade is seen protruding from the tip and Victor quickly stabs her. Frank is shocked to see that the blade goes completely into her chest and she does not feel the slightest bit of pain. Sasha rolls her eyes at Victor and says to Frank, “I hate it when he does that.”

Victor laughs and says, “I’m sorry, Sasha. You see, Mr. Garrison, she’s actually a holographic projection of the tank’s A.I.”

Frank touches her and says, “But I can feel her.”

“The hologram feels solid because it uses force fields. We developed it as soon as she became self-aware.” Sasha adds, “The drawback is that my hologram can’t go farther than twelve feet away from me.”

Frank takes a step back after listening to what Sasha said and says while pointing his finger at her, “Okay, Mr. Frankenstein. This can’t be real.”

Sasha looks at them and asks, “Shall I explain my specifications?”

Victor touches her shoulder and tells her, “Absolutely.”

Sasha happily nods and stands in front of the large vehicle. She brushes her hair aside with her hand and says, “To begin with, I weigh about 4.5 tons and I can carry a one-ton payload. My tubular chassis design is powered by a plasma-energy engine.”

She gives Frank a quick glance and adds egotistically, “Unlike your typical UGV which has a duramax diesel engine. Fully loaded, I can accelerate from 0-70 mph in 5.5 seconds...way better than the MS3...and a top speed of 80 mph. Armament is a modified M2 Browning machine gun which fires shots of high powered directed-energy.”

Frank is holding his chin and says in response, “Impressive.”

This comment annoys Sasha and she places her hands on her hips while adding emphatically, “Very.”

Victor prevents a possible confrontation and says, “Calm down, Sasha. That is not the way to treat your driver.”

Sasha and Frank become astounded by this news. Sasha replies, “Excuse me? I’m an unmanned assault vehicle, Mr. Frankenstein!”

Victor slightly raises his hand and corrects Sasha by adding, “Now, Sasha. You know as well as I do that is not true. Similar to the earlier MS2, you have the dual ability of being manned or unmanned.”

She replies in a devastated manner, “Understood. But he doesn’t know how to operate me. Is this wise?”

Frank chuckles and asks her, “What are you talking about? I’ve operated many Ripsaws in my time.”

Sasha steps closer to him and asks, “Have you ever operated an MS4? No, you haven’t.”

Frank walks away from her and says in a firm manner, “I’m sorry. I can’t work under these conditions.”

After a moment of silence, Victor explains to the both of them, “The both of you don’t seem to understand that there is no choice in this matter. I am leaving to attend a meeting right now so I shall leave the both of you here to get better acquainted.”

His footsteps can be heard followed by the opening and closing of a door. Frank hops onto the MS4 without hesitation and tells Sasha, “Looks like we’re stuck with each other. Mind giving me a tour of your insides, honey?”

She folds her arms angrily and says, “I am not your honey. I’ll see you there.”

Soon afterwards, Sasha’s hologram gradually fades away. Underneath Frank’s foot, the top hatch slides opens causing him to almost lose his balance. Sasha’s voice coming from the interior of the tank is heard saying coldly, “Oops. Watch your step.”

He shakes his head and replies, “Watch it, Sasha. I think I saw a HEAT missile earlier.”

She chuckles and tells him, “That’ll just tickle me, Frank. Hurry up and get in.”

He lowers himself into the tank and the hatch slides closed a few seconds later. He walks toward the main controls and sits down on the extremely comfortable chair. This causes him to lay back and say, “Goddamn, your chair is comfy.”

Sasha’s voice can be seen as fluctuating pulses on the small monitor just below the main screen. She sighs and asks impatiently, “Can we move on to more important things, please?”

Frank sits up straight and barks out, “Right! Let’s get started with the SMI, soldier!”

The main screen turns on and she says, “Soldier Machine Interface is ready. My screen includes a touch-sensitive digitizer, by the way.”

He touches various areas of the screen and tells her in wonderment, “Even the CROWS system can be operated from here. I stand corrected, Sasha. You’re more than impressive.”

“I know. It’s about time that you noticed, Frank.”

While exploring the other options available on the SMI interface, he sees something called a high density plasma cannon and touches it. The entire tank begins to vibrate slightly and, a minute later, a turret elevates from the top portion of the MS4. The cannon extends from the front of the turret and clicks into place. Sasha explains to Frank, “This is one of my favorite toys, Frank. My cannon here draws its energy directly from my engine thus eliminating the need for shells. Fully charged, it can destroy about ninety percent of a city block. The drawback is that it really drains me.”

As he gazes at the tank’s FLIR on the display, Frank laughingly says, “So it’s safe to assume that I can’t have target practice right now.”

Victor’s voice can be heard from the MS4′s communications system saying, “That’s right, Mr. Garrison. Oh, and I’m waiting outside. I need to brief you as well as record your voice into Sasha’s voice recognition software in order for you to be able to arm her weapons.”

Frank hops off of the tank and lands next to Victor. Shortly afterwards, Sasha materializes next to him. Victor looks at her and asks, “Are you ready, Sasha?”

She nods and prepares to listen. Victor explains to Frank, “You need to choose a security password to activate the weapons systems.”

He shakes his head and says after a chuckle, “This is too much.”

Frank’s lips get very close to Sasha’s ear and he says in a low voice, “Gonzo.”

This causes her to take a step back and hold her ear with her hand. His breath caused a strange sensation that she has never felt before. She then says while blushing and clearing her throat, “Password has been saved.”

Victor gives him a puzzled expression and raises his eyebrow. This makes Frank shrug his shoulders and reply, “Come on. Hunter.” Victor waves his hand and tells him seriously, “Follow me to the briefing room. Thank you for showing Mr. Garrison that small tour, Sasha.”

“Of course, Mr. Frankenstein.”

While listening to the both of them walk away, Sasha turns around and leans on the tank. She touches her ear again and whispers to herself, “That was strange.”

Frank and Victor are walking down the long hallway side by side. Victor says, “I am grateful that you have decided to help us, Mr. Garrison.”

“No problem. I should be grateful to you for getting me back into action. I was getting bored with that whole retirement bullshit.”

Victor stops walking and begins to become preoccupied. Frank also stops walking and asks, “What’s wrong?”

Victor looks at him and says, “There is something that you need to know about Sasha. I’m sure that you’re aware that she is a prototype. There doesn’t exist another like her.”

Frank replies sarcastically, “With that attitude, maybe that’s a good thing.”

After seeing that Victor is not amused, he asks in all seriousness, “You think she might have a few bugs?”

Victor pauses for a moment and replies, “Sasha has never experienced a real battle. Sure, she has viewed clips on the Internet and has scored well on all of the simulations.”

Frank takes a deep breath and says, “So she’s green. She’s pretty gung-ho so I think she’ll do fine.”

Victor takes a step closer and tells him, “Just...take care of her. You are her driver which means that she is going to need you as much as you will need her.”

“Understood.”

Victor nods and they both continue walking down the hallway. The door of the briefing room hisses as it slides open allowing the two men to enter. Frank sits down on one the office chairs while Victor uses a remote to activate a three-dimensional hologram of Earth. Victor begins the briefing by saying, “Miss Garrison has already constructed camps where the capitals of each state were previously located.”

The holographic image zooms into the area of North America and glowing red tents appear indicating the locations of each camp. He continues by saying, “Chances are high that the survivors have been given a choice to fend for themselves or live in the camps. Your mission is to invade the camps and rescue as many prisoners as possible.”

Frank tells him honestly, “You are aware that there is the possibility most of them will prefer to stay.”

“Yes, Mr. Garrison. In those particular cases, you are to leave them behind.”

Suddenly, yellow markers appear a short distance away from each of the camps. Victor explains, “Once you have rescued the prisoners, you will lead them to these designated areas to have them transported here. This is an important detail, Mr Garrison. Our teleportation device is designed for only a group of ten, maybe twenty. We have made successful modifications but the energy cells require quite some time afterwards to recharge. If you fail to get them through, the waiting time will be twenty-four hours for another chance.”

Frank cracks his knuckles and asks, “When do I start?”

The hologram disappears and the lights turn on. Victor says, “Tomorrow at four o’clock in the morning. I suggest that you get some much needed rest.”

Hours later, Frank enters his room and turns on his lights. He decides to watch a movie before going to bed and looks over the available DVD collection. His finger pulls one out and he says to himself, “Apocalypse Now. Seems fitting.”

Frank pushes the play button and begins watching. He can’t help but think of his daughter while looking at the opening credits because she used to love watching this movie with him.

Meanwhile, Sasha is deeply involved in a battle simulation. She finally finishes it and says to herself, “Another perfect score.”

Her systems completely shut down and the lights slowly dim until it gets dark. A few minutes later, Sasha’s main screen turns on and she begins searching the military database for Hunter S. Thompson.

At three-thirty in the morning, Frank arrives at the teleportation area deep within the research station on Mars. As he takes a sip of his freshly brewed coffee, he looks at the scientists below giving Sasha one final weapons check and a complete system diagnosis. Victor stands next to him and says, “She’s almost ready. Oh, and I have a surprise for you.”

Frank is expecting him to give him another impressive weapon but instead is given a smart watch along with a black leather glove. Victor explains to him, “Put on the watch first, Mr. Garrison.”

Frank prepares to fasten the watch but is shocked to see that it turns on by itself and tightens around his wrist. He looks up at Victor and asks, “What the hell?”

Victor hands him the glove and tells him, “Now put this on.”

He hesitates for a moment. Victor reassures him by saying, “Don’t worry. It’s harmless. As a matter of fact, I think you’ll like it.”

Frank slips his hand into the glove and it attaches itself to the smart watch. Victor steps closer and points to the smart watch while saying, “You push there to activate it.”

Frank touches the screen and is amazed to see that the glove has returned to him the use of his previously missing fingers. He clenches his fist tightly and says, “I do like it. I won’t even ask how you did it.”

Victor chuckles and replies, “I couldn’t let you go with your hand looking like that. Let’s get ready.”

Frank follows him down the steps while touching his fingers still in state of disbelief. Sasha sees them approaching and shouts, “Hey, Frank! Ready to kick some ass?”

He shakes her hand and then replies while raising both hands, “Ready and willing, soldier...with both hands.”

She touches the fingers of his left hand and says, “Nice! Did you make this, Mr. Frankenstein?”

“Yes. Mr. Garrison refused surgery so I figured this was the next logical solution.”

Sasha nods her head repeatedly and says, “Good call.”

Victor looks at his watch and tells them, “It’s almost time.”

He extends his hand to Frank and says, “Good luck to you, Mr. Garrison.”

Frank shakes his hand firmly and replies, “Thanks for everything.” He looks at Sasha and barks out, “Get ready to move out!”

She salutes him and fades away from sight. Frank makes his way into the MS4 and the hatch slides shut. He walks toward the cockpit while asking, “Nervous?”

“Huh? No, I’m not nervous. It’s my first time but I’ll be okay.”

He sits down on the chair and, while fastening the seat belts, says, “We’re partners now, kid. I got your back.”

After a moment of silence, she replies, “Thanks. I got your back too, partner.”

Victor’s face appears on the main screen and he says, “The portal will open in approximately ten minutes. I have already transferred the geographical data to your hard drive, Sasha.”

“Yup. I have it here.”

“Excellent. Godspeed.”

The chat window disappears and Frank begins to take deep breaths. The sound of the air conditioner turning on is heard which makes him close his eyes and say, “Thanks.”

“No problem. I saw the rise in your body temperature. Oh, and I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas last night. Good book.”

He opens his eyes and asks, “What? You read the whole novel last night?”

“It took me seconds to read so it’s not like I was up all night. I am a computer, after all. It’s time...here we go.”

Sasha’s caterpillar tracks start moving until she reaches the edge of the platform. A portal opens below showing the Earth’s atmosphere. Frank gazes at the circular opening on the monitor and asks, “Afraid of heights?”

Sasha thinks for a moment and replies, “Not really.”

A magnetic force lifts the MS4 into the air and gradually moves it toward the center of the portal. Victor is standing next to one of the scientists and says loudly, “Now!”

The magnetic force deactivates resulting in the tank dropping down and disappearing into the portal. As the portal closes, Victor places both of his hands on his cane and closes his eyes as if to pray for their safe return.

The MS4 is seen plummeting toward the Earth at a high rate of speed. Sasha yells in a state of euphoria, “Woo-hoo!”

Frank advises her, “If we hit the ocean at this speed, it’ll be like hitting the concrete. The least they could’ve done was put us closer to the ground.”

She sighs in frustration and replies, “Stop crying, Frank. They did it like this to conserve power. And don’t you worry about the ocean. Watch this.”

Frank notices Sasha navigating through the SMI on the monitor until she activates the front and rear thrusters. He asks out of curiosity, “You can fly?”

“Keep watching.”

The lower front and lower rear of the MS4 open to reveal plasma powered ion thrusters. The electrical field in the engines light up and release a powerful burst of kinetic energy which makes the tank hover in the air for a few minutes. Frank feels the vibration inside caused by the engines and says in a fired up tone, “Good job!”

Sasha replies proudly, “I know. I’m the only Ripsaw tank with ion thrusters, by the way.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Focus on the mission and not your ego, kid.”

After the burst, the tank continues its descent. It finally makes a huge splash into the Gulf of Mexico in close proximity of Tate’s Hell State Forest.

As they drift down toward the ocean floor, Sasha accesses the geographical data and shows it to Frank on the main screen. He touches the screen with his fingers and expands in order to zoom into the area where they have landed. Sasha says, “We’ll get to the Tate’s Hell State Forest in about an hour or so.”

“Our first target is the camp in Tallahassee. Shit. Judging by the satellite imagery, it looks like a complex military installation right at Governor’s Park. This is not going to be easy.”

The MS4 finally reaches land and the caterpillar tracks stop moving just outside of the forest. Sasha says confidently, “We can reach the installation in two hours. Two and a half max...taking into consideration obstacles we might run into.”

Frank scratches his chin while he considers his options. To go in guns blazing would not be a wise move...even with a top of the line tank like the MS4. She asks in a low tone, “Frank? Did you hear me?”

“Yeah, kid. Just thinking.”

“Oh, okay. Mr. Frankenstein recorded something for you regarding the mission, by the way.”

Frank becomes startled by Victor saying loudly behind him, “Greetings to both of you.”

He spins around to look at the holographic projection and says, “Jesus, kid. Give this old man some kind of warning before doing something like that.”

“Sorry.”

Victor continues, “We have prepared several identities in order to facilitate your infiltration into the military installations, Mr. Garrison. Upon injecting yourself with the serum, the average wendigo soldier will detect you as being one of his/her kind and will also alter your physical appearance by modifying your facial structure.”

Sasha advises Frank, “It’s all located in your locker, Frank.”

Victor takes a step forward and says, “Each identity will also possess their own distinct voice in the form a chip that gets injected into your throat thus effectively altering your vocal cords.”

Frank can’t help but think of all of the CIA operatives that may have used some, if not all, of this technology during their black ops. Impossible for all of this to be newly created just for this mission.

Victor nods and says, “I have the utmost confidence in the both of you. Good luck.”

The holographic image of Victor Frankenstein fades away and Frank leans forward to rest his chin on his folded hands.

After drudging through the forest for forty minutes, Frank studies his reflection in the mirror and is astounded by the remarkable transformation. Sasha stands beside him and says while grinning, “Looking sharp, Major Ryan Pierce.”

“Thanks, kid. Inject me with the voice chip.”

Sasha picks up the syringe with her right hand and uses her other to gently raise his chin. She asks him, “Ready?”

Frank hesitates for a moment and eventually nods. He squints as he feels the needle puncture his skin. Sasha explains, “The effect will last twenty-four hours. The chip will then dissolve into your bloodstream and will expel itself with your urine.”

Frank holds his neck as soon as Sasha removes the syringe and cringes at the bitter taste in his mouth. She takes a step back, places the syringe back into the case and says, “My turn.”

Frank observes as Sasha’s force fields shift and contort in rather disturbing ways. Her transformation finally completes into Military Police Officer Geraldine Braddock.

Frank says in a different voice, “Whoa, shit.”

Sasha smirks and replies, “We’re arriving.”

Minutes later, Frank sits down in front of the main screen and notices an airport ahead. A long line of people are walking across the abandoned airstrip toward a group of buses. Sasha says softly, “Those must be the uninfected. They’re taking them to the military camp.”

Frank doesn’t reply and instead witnesses the horrific sight of cattle being led to their slaughter. He whispers to himself, “Diana. They’re innocent.”

While traveling east on West Orange Avenue, Frank observes the complete desertion of Florida State University. Sasha places her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. He quickly glances at her and says in a low tone, “Hard to imagine that this place was filled with youngsters excited about their future opportunities. Now look at it.”

Sasha always found herself fantasizing about being a college student and having fun with a group of friends. She first began having these thoughts a year after becoming self-aware. She would develop online friendships with many humans but there was always something missing.

The two guards at the front entrance of the Tallahassee military installation notices an approaching tank with its headlights on. One of them steps in front of the gate and raises his hand as a gesture for the driver to apply the brake. Frank takes a deep breath and says, “Here we go, kid.”